Thursday, July 3, 2008

the flay-meister

I will say, I never minded Bobby Flay too much.
Boyfriend hated him, but I really had to give the guy some credit. And then overnight, Flay-man turned into the poster child for Food Network in all his annoying glory.
Everything Food Network has to involve the guy in one way or another - essentially almost as bad as (dare I say) Rachel Ray.
From Throwdown to that Grill It! thing where "you mean I can cook up some burgers and hot dogs with Bobby Flay on tv for no reason at all??!", it’s all so overdone and idiotic.
He grills, we get it. He makes guacamole and uses lots of tortillas, we get it.
As as a man of his stature - having people say "ooooh bobby flay!" - I will say I’m rather bored.
His new effort is Bobby Flay Steak in Atlantic City, NJ. The way I see it, the premise of a steakhouse is to serve steak.
Aside from having a fairly limited menu (not that I necessarily enjoy the cheesecake factory variety), 90% is all seafood. There is one section dedicated to the "Spice Rubbed Steaks with Bobby Flay Barbecue Sauce" and a small selection of chops including one veal, one chicken, one pork. Ooooh. The guy has turned himself into a brand.
And you know, it really does work for some people (ahem, Mrs. Stewart). But there are tacky ways of going about the brand thing. He’s tacky. And annoying.

And maybe part of the reason I consider his menu limited is because lobster is listed at least 10 times.
Seriously?
I get that whole using-similar-things-more-than-once thing, but redundancy has its cons.
And let’s not get into the "grilled chicken with bacon mustard vinaigrette". How about I make it at home and save myself the $29? Really.
And as for side dishes, there are at least 5 different ways he serves up a potato. Smashed with creme fraiche, fried, hash brown-ed, mashed, gratin-ed.
For somebody who won those James Beard Awards and had such critical acclaim, I’m really not entirely impressed.
Want to stick with the cuisine? Try some Rick Bayless for a change.

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